Politicians hold talks with Argyll and Bute farmers

Members of NFU Scotland's regional board for Argyll and the Islands with area politicians Jamie McGrigor, Alan Reid, Jean Urquhart and Mike MacKenzie. Iain Crawford, from Stuck farm on Bute, is standing third from the left.

Farmers from Bute, Cowal, Kintyre, Mull and Oban travelled to Tarbert this week to raise a range of issues with the area’s politicians.

Iain Crawford, from Stuck farm near Port Bannatyne, and other members of NFU Scotland’s regional board for Argyll and the Islands met Alan Reid MP and three MSPs for the Highlands and Islands, Jamie McGrigor, Mike MacKenzie and Jean Urquhart, on Friday.

Mr McGrigor is the convener of the cross-party group in the Scottish Parliament for crofting, whilst Ms Urquhart is deputy convener and Mr Mackenzie is a member of the group.

Issues brought up during the meeting included rural mobile phone signal and broadband and road equivalent tariff (RET) fares on the area’s ferries, including the pricing of weighted vehicles.

Questions were also asked about the Grocery Code Adjudicator, with specific concerns about the amount of New Zealand lamb that has been on sale in supermarkets across the region.

John Semple, the regional board’s chair, commented: “This was a very useful meeting for us all and gave our regional board members a platform to bring up issues affecting their area of Argyll and Bute. Many points were put to the politicians and we anticipate that they will take these forward.

“We hope to have a follow up with regular meetings with those politicians who attended as well as others who couldn’t make it on the day. We felt we were listened to and that the four politicians were genuinely interested in hearing about our issues.”

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